Aromatic dihalides form .pi.-arene complexes with certain transition metal groups such as Cr(CO).sub.3, RuCp.sup.*+ (Cp.sup.* is pentamethylcyclopentadiene) and FeCp.sup.+ (Cp is cyclopentadiene). The .pi.-arene complexes sometimes survive when the aromatic dihalide is reacted.
J. A. Segal, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., Vol. 198, p. 1338-1339 (1985) reports that p-dichlorobenzene complexed with RuCp.sup.+ PF.sub.6 - can be reacted with the sodium or potassium salts of bisphenol A or bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) ketone to form ruthenium complexed PEEK or polyether of bisphenol A and hydroquinone. No mention is made of forming polymers containing sulfur or of polymers in which ether linkages connect all the arylene groups.
A. Alemagna, et al., J. Org. Chem., Vol. 48 (1983), p. 3114-3116 report the reaction of chromium complexed arylene dihalides with thiols. Similarly, D. Astruc in Tet. Lett., Vol. 39 (1983) at p. 4069 reports the reaction of an iron complexed aryl halide with a phenyl thiolate anion. Ruthenium complexes of aryl halides are similarly reported to react with thiols in R. M. Moriarty, et al., J. Organometal. Chem., Vol. 350 (1988) at p. 173. However, these references do not report polymer formation.